Formal coordination theories require that tasks be allocated across organizational members, and communication and control mechanisms must facilitate the necessary information exchanges and decisional autonomy needed for effective collaboration and decision-making (Thompson, 1967; Van de Ven et al., 1976). Horizontal coordination between users and IS employees suggests a high degree of user participation in the project and open channels of communication among team members.

Partnering is a specific management intervention designed to promote collaboration between the users and IS staff through coordination principles (Cowan et al.,1992). The partnership must be extended from the development team to the functional users of the proposed system.